This section provides data relating to the movements of goods and persons. Examples include distance travelled, tonnes of freight carried and numbers of passengers.

Road transport activity

Motor vehicles travelled a total distance of 180,782 million kilometres in the year ended 31 October 2000 at an average of 15,400 kilometres per vehicle on the road (table 23.1). Business use accounted for an estimated 34.4% of distance travelled, while the journey to and from work accounted for a further 22.1%. Private use made up the remaining 43.5%.

23.1 BUSINESS AND PRIVATE VEHICLE USE, By Type of Vehicle - Year ended 31 October 2000(a)

Business

Type of vehicle

Laden

Unladen

Total(b)

Total to and
from work

Private

Total

TOTAL KILOMETRES TRAVELLED (million)

Passenger vehicles

n.a.

n.a.

31,085

35,050

72,590

138,725

Motor cycles

n.a.

n.a.

131

449

587

1,167

Light commercial vehicles

12,704

4,833

17,537

4,318

5,281

27,136

Rigid trucks

4,406

1,834

6,240

94

81

6,415

Articulated trucks

3,887

1,436

5,323

*6

*2

5,331

Non-freight carrying trucks

n.a.

n.a.

252

**1

**1

254

Buses

n.a.

n.a.

1,664

19

70

1,754

Total

20,997

8,104

62,233

39,937

78,612

180,782

AVERAGE KILOMETRES TRAVELLED PER VEHICLE(c) (’000)

Passenger vehicles

n.a.

n.a.

10.2

7.1

8.5

14.7

Motor cycles

n.a.

n.a.

2.6

4.6

3.1

4.6

Light commercial vehicles

14.3

8.3

17.6

7.5

6.1

17.1

Rigid trucks

15.9

8.5

22.3

4.4

2.7

21.3

Articulated trucks

71.3

30.2

96.5

2.9

*1.3

94.4

Non-freight carrying trucks

n.a.

n.a.

13.9

*3.2

*1.8

13.8

Buses

n.a.

n.a.

34.2

4.3

9.4

32.6

Total

17.2

9.5

13.9

7.1

8.2

15.4

(a) Because of changes to methodology, caution should be used when comparing these data with data from the 1995 and earlier surveys presented in previous editions of Year Book Australia.(b) Includes business travel of non-freight carrying vehicles. (c) Calculated using total kilometres travelled divided by the average number of registered vehicles, for each type of vehicle, by type of use.

Source: Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia (9208.0).

Table 23.2 shows the areas in which motor vehicles travelled. Only 5.4% of total distance travelled was interstate while 55.5% was within the capital city of the State or Territory in which the vehicle was registered.

23.2 AREA OF OPERATION - By Type of Vehicle - Year ended 31 October 2000(a)

Area of operation

Within State/Territory of registration

Type of vehicle

Capital city(b)

Provincial
urban

Other areas of State or Territory

Total

Interstate(c)

Australia

TOTAL KILOMETRES TRAVELLED (million)

Passenger vehicles

82,488

17,986

31,219

131,692

7,032

138,725

Motor cycles

536

212

318

1,066

*101

1,167

Light commercial vehicles

12,049

4,351

9,830

26,230

906

27,136

Rigid trucks

3,405

757

2,022

6,184

231

6,415

Articulated trucks

977

338

2,539

3,854

1,477

5,331

Non-freight carrying types

108

**74

*63

245

*9

254

Buses

820

268

589

1,678

76

1,754

Total

100,383

23,987

46,580

170,950

9,833

180,782

AVERAGE KILOMETRES TRAVELLED PER VEHICLE(d) (’000)

Passenger vehicles

11.6

6.7

9.8

14.0

6.8

14.7

Motor cycles

4.1

3.7

2.9

4.3

*3.5

4.6

Light commercial vehicles

15.4

10.2

13.1

16.7

5.0

17.1

Rigid trucks

22.4

11.6

14.4

20.7

8.8

21.3

Articulated trucks

29.9

19.3

64.1

70.5

79.2

94.4

Non-freight carrying types

16.1

*17.3

*7.5

13.7

*5.3

13.8

Buses

27.0

18.5

25.6

31.6

14.7

32.6

Total

12.2

7.3

10.9

14.7

7.6

15.4

(a) Because of changes to methodology caution must be taken when comparing these data with data from the 1995 and earlier surveys presented in previous editions of Year Book Australia.(b) Relates to travel within the capital of the State/Territory where a vehicle is registered (i.e. Sydney for vehicles registered in New South Wales).(c) Interstate travel relates to distance travelled in States/Territories other than the one in which the vehicle was registered (e.g. distance travelled by a New South Wales registered vehicle in Victoria). It is not classified by capital city/provincial urban/other area (i.e. distance travelled by a New South Wales registered vehicle in Melbourne is shown as interstate travel and not capital city travel). (d) Calculated as total kilometres travelled divided by the number of vehicles travelling, for each type of vehicle, by area of operation.

Source: Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia (9208.0).

Rail transport activity

The Australian rail industry is very diverse, comprising rail operators (freight, passenger, tourist and heritage), manufacturers, suppliers, consultants, track access corporations, maintenance and construction contractors, logistics providers and a wide range of other companies covering all sectors of the industry.

Australia's railways are undergoing significant change as a result of the Commonwealth and State/Territory Governments' policy to increase competition. Consequently, there has been an increase in private rail activity, with a decline in government ownership and management of railways.

The following information as at 30 June 2001 on the ownership and management of individual State railways was supplied by Australasian Railways Association.

New South Wales: The Rail Infrastructure Corporation (RIC) manages rail infrastructure including maintenance and operator access to the network. The State government-owned enterprises are:

FreightCorp,the State's major rail freight operator which also operates in South Australia and between Sydney and Melbourne. The NSW Government has announced its intention to privatise FreightCorp; and

the State Rail Authority, operating urban, commuter and country rail passenger services, and interstate passenger trains to Melbourne and Brisbane.

A number of private operators also operate rail services.

Victoria: The Victorian Rail Track Corporation (VicTrack) is the State government statutory corporation which owns the public transport land in Victoria. This land is leased by VicTrack to various government and private operators. In February 1999 Victoria’s rail freight operator V/Line Freight was sold to US regional rail operator Rail America, which trades as Freight Australia. In mid-1999 Victoria’s rail passenger services were franchised to private operators:

UK based National Express Group - V/Line Passenger (under a 10 year franchise agreement);

M>Train (15 year agreement);

M>Tram (12 years);

French based Melbourne Transport Enterprises-Connex (15 years); and

locally based MetroLink, including the major construction company Transfield Yarra Trams (12 years).

Queensland: The primary rail system remains operated by government-owned business enterprises that have responsibility for their entire operations. There are also a number of private enterprises operating smaller railways, primarily for the transportation of products such as sugar cane.

South Australia: In November 1997 the Commonwealth sold the non-urban rail systems. Australian Southern Railroad operates the former SA Freight. Great Southern Railway operates the long distance passenger trains, namely the Ghan, the Indian Pacific and the Overland. There are also some private operators.

Western Australia: In late 2000, the West Australian government owned Westrail was sold to a consortium comprising Australian Southern Railroad and Wesfarmers. The urban rail passenger operations and non-urban rail and bus passenger services remain government owned under the Western Australian Government Railways Commission. In north-west WA, private railways haul iron ore from mine to port on some of the world’s longest, heaviest and most efficient trains.

Tasmania: In November 1997 the Commonwealth sold Tasrail to Australian Transport Network.

Commonwealth: National Rail Corporation Ltd (NRC) operates interstate rail freight services between Brisbane and Perth as well as intrastate services in NSW. It is jointly owned by the Commonwealth Government and the NSW and Victorian Governments,which have agreed to its privatisation. The Australian Rail Track Corporation owns the interstate standard gauge track in South Australia extending to Kalgoorlie in WA, and leases the interstate standard gauge track in Victoria from the State Government and VicTrack.

Domestic airline activity

Table 23.3 shows the hours flown and aircraft departures for the major domestic and regional airlines. Aircraft departures increased by 3.8% in 2000 compared to departures in 1999. The number of hours flown in 2000 increased by 4.8% from 1999.

In addition to scheduled services of domestic and regional airlines shown in table 23.3, a wide range of other activities is undertaken by the aviation industry, including business flying, aerial agriculture, charter, training and private flying (table 23.4). Charter operations and training have, in recent years, made up more than half of general aviation hours flown and approximately 40% of total domestic hours flown. Charter operations involve the use of aircraft in non-scheduled operations for the carriage of passengers and cargo for hire or reward. General aviation hours flown in 2000 were 13% lower across all activity types than hours flown in 1999. Fuel contamination problems which grounded some aircraft may have been a factor in the lower figures recorded.

23.4 GENERAL AVIATION ACTIVITY, Hours Flown

1996

'000

1997

'000

1998

'000

1999

'000

2000(a)

'000

Charter

483

487

498

508

487

Agricultural

126

137

148

135

117

Flying training

450

455

484

454

355

Other aerial work

293

315

319

314

274

Private/business

447

446

430

432

369

Total

1,799

1,839

1,878

1,842

1,602

(a) 2000 figures are preliminary.

Source: Bureau of Air Safety Investigation.

International air transport activity

As table 23.5 shows,the number of flights into and out of Australia in 2000 both increased by 10.4% over 1999 levels. Other airlines (i.e. overseas operators) represented 66.5% of all scheduled international airline traffic. In 2000 these airlines increased their incoming flights by 12.5% and their outgoing flights by 12.6%, and were the primary contributors to the overall increase in flights. Qantas also contributed to the total growth in flights, with a 8.5% increase in flights into and out of the country, flights to and from Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, UK and USA recording increases. In contrast, the number of Ansett flights fell across all services except to and from Hong Kong.

23.5 SCHEDULED INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE TRAFFIC TO AND FROM AUSTRALIA(a) - Year ended December

Flights(b)(c)

Type of traffic

1999

2000

TRAFFIC TO AUSTRALIA

Qantas Airways Limited

12,675

13,751

Ansett Australia

1,640

1,450

Other airlines

27,219

30,633

All airlines

41,534

45,834

TRAFFIC FROM AUSTRALIA

Qantas Airways Limited

12,733

13,817

Ansett Australia

1,646

1,454

Other airlines

26,713

30,083

All airlines

41,092

45,354

(a) Australia and Norfolk Island. (b) Includes Qantas flights using aircraft leased from other airlines and vice versa. (c) The difference between to and from numbers arises because some outward flights are operated as non-scheduled, and so are not counted in the table.

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